I would take a Keenan Allen/Cordarrelle Patterson over him.
I dont particularly like his skill set for our MLB position

I agree, he really isnt a fit for this defense. Which in turn could make him as a very likely Viking seeing as the Vikes seem to struggle with getting the correct type of MLB in the Cover 2, from EJ Henderson to Jasper Brinkley, its been a problem area.

First . . . Teo is a pretty good football player . . . is he Patrick Willis or Ray Lewis level? I don't think so. But, I did watch him make some pretty impressive plays earlier this year. He kind of vanished against 'Bama though and those guys are pro-caliber.

How one arrives at celebrity status is a wild and crazy ride. Each must choose a path . . . how the public perceives the path determines how well liked the young man will be. Someday we should compare Ryan Leaf or Mike Vick to Tebow and Brady in this light . . .

In this case, the orchestration is impressvie to me. With the advisors (i.e. agent and lawyers) he has, I tend to believe they'll play this off as a ruse where he was the victim . . . not like it's Bret's wang on the web. . .lol.

In the end, I'm guessing a team will draft him in the first round and he'll deliver some decent play.

First, he must pass the combine with flying colors and with this cloud that'll be impossible if his numbers aren't off the charts. If he's slow, weak and not explosive . . what happens next? Spinning those numbers as a result that his mind isn't right from the deceit he suffered as a victim? If you want to buy that story, I definitely have to talk to you about some tropical paradise I have up here in AK for sale . . . trust me, it's awesome!

Further, it's really hard to believe that he's not involved in some way with things like this out there:

Quote:

An Associated Press review of news coverage found that the Heisman Trophy runner-up talked about his doomed love in a Web interview on Dec. 8 and again in a newspaper interview published Dec. 11. He and the university said Wednesday that he learned on Dec. 6 that it was all a hoax, that not only wasn’t she dead, she wasn’t real.

It's getting more difficult to believe Teo was totally innocent in the scam. But if there are criminals who carried out this plan, they will be found. That doesn't appear to be the case but I guess things could change.

I hope he's on a suicide watch. This could embarrass him to the point of doing something crazy. He'll have to undergo some mental evaluations before or during the Combine I would think.

First, this is a fascinating story for some reason. I just cannot get enough, which is unusual for me. I find it hard to believe he was not involved, since his dad is quoted as saying she visited Hawaii.....

second, I heard on ESPN radio this morning that some teams have privately said this will effect him and his status.

if I was a player, I would be trash talking him about this all day.

Finally, I would probably still draft him, assuming he is the BPA and I need a linebacker.

i can always count on you! i agree, this is one BIZARRE and interesting story to watch develop, and we still don't know where it will go.

we learn all the time of college players committing crimes or just being stupid, but this one is unique._________________

I've liked Minter over him as well. I think Minter is a very good fit for our defense and could easily be our MLB of the future if we draft him. I think the problem is that Minter might not last until 51.

I haven't watched a ton of tape on Olgetree so my opinion about him is still under construction. I wouldn't mind him so much at WLB but I think that's a position that we can address through FA or a one year contract with somebody. Perhaps we could shift Brinkley over to that position, although I don't know if he would be happy about losing his spot.

Our #1 need right now is WR. I'd draft both Allen and Patterson over Te'o right now and I'd consider Williams, Hopkins and Hunter over him depending on how FA goes._________________

Quote:

I'm a Vikings fan, that must naturally mean that I'm a masochist, right?

for those of you who think Te'o has been over rated or won't live up to his billing in the pros, why has he been awarded so many times? do you feel he's a college athlete freak who won't transition to the pros?

Te'o is the most decorated defensive player in college football history. He won the 2012 Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year Lott Trophy, as well as the Maxwell Award, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Butkus Award, the Lombardi Award, and the Walter Camp Award. In addition, he was named a national scholar-athlete by the National Football Foundation. Te'o finished second in Heisman Trophy voting to Texas A&M Quarterback Johnny Manziel.

for those of you who think Te'o has been over rated or won't live up to his billing in the pros, why has he been awarded so many times? do you feel he's a college athlete freak who won't transition to the pros?

I think a lot of people are going out of their way to knock Te'o. He isn't a Patrick Willis prospect but he is a high caliber prospect nonetheless. The comparison's to Rey Maualuga are just ridiculous. You can't judge a prospect off of one game, which is what a lot of people are doing now. Te'o has a solid body of work to his name.

There is nothing to suggest Te'o won't be a good player at the next level. Te'o possesses outstanding instincts and he his a terrific run defender because of it. Even with a few "lucky" INT's, he did a great job of working on his pass coverage and became a well rounded LB this year. Up to this week, his ability to lead and rally a team is what put him above other prospects. Many are knocking his speed and tackling ability based off of the Alabama game but they are just grasping at straws. Te'o should have never been looked at as a top 5 pick like he was for awhile but he is a solid 10-25 range prospect._________________Perra For President

for those of you who think Te'o has been over rated or won't live up to his billing in the pros, why has he been awarded so many times? do you feel he's a college athlete freak who won't transition to the pros?

I think a lot of people are going out of their way to knock Te'o. He isn't a Patrick Willis prospect but he is a high caliber prospect nonetheless. The comparison's to Rey Maualuga are just ridiculous. You can't judge a prospect off of one game, which is what a lot of people are doing now. Te'o has a solid body of work to his name.

There is nothing to suggest Te'o won't be a good player at the next level. Te'o possesses outstanding instincts and he his a terrific run defender because of it. Even with a few "lucky" INT's, he did a great job of working on his pass coverage and became a well rounded LB this year. Up to this week, his ability to lead and rally a team is what put him above other prospects. Many are knocking his speed and tackling ability based off of the Alabama game but they are just grasping at straws. Te'o should have never been looked at as a top 5 pick like he was for awhile but he is a solid 10-25 range prospect.

I couldn't agree more. This drama will drag on for a while yet, but I think he won't make it pass Pittsburgh at 17 for some reason. I think he is too perfect of a fit there for them to pass up and I think he will put a solid career together.

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who has been publicly identified as being behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax, called a church friend in early December crying and admitted to duping the Heisman finalist, the friend told "Outside the Lines" Thursday.

She said Tuiasosopo gave her the tearful confession and account of how he played what he said was at first a game on the unsuspecting Te'o. And, she said, he told her that it wasn't the first time he had done it.

"He (Ronaiah) told me that Manti was not involved at all, he was a victim. ... The girlfriend was a lie, the accident was a lie, the leukemia was a lie," said the woman. "He was crying, he was literally crying, he's like 'I know, I know what I have to do.'

"It's not only Manti, but he was telling me that it's a lot of other people they had done this to."

----

OTL also interviewed two other people who said they have a cousin who had the same online hoax pulled on them by Tuiasosopo.

J.R. Vaosa, 28, of Torrance, Calif., and Celeste Tuioti-Mariner, 21, of Whittier, Calif., said that in 2008 their cousin began an online romance with a woman who portrayed herself as a model. Vaosa said the cousin showed Vaosa a picture on MySpace of a woman from a Victoria's Secret catalog that he said was Kekua. Vaosa said that the online Kekua would agree to meet his cousin at certain places. Vaosa said he went with the cousin to meet her.

"When Lennay said she was gonna be at this park one day, we'd go to the park and Ronaiah pops up and then we go to the gym in Orange County where the kids have volleyball tournaments, Ronaiah's there," Vaosa said.

Finally, the family convinced Vaosa's cousin that something wasn't right and he needed to cut things off not only with Kekua, but Tuiasosopo, whom they were convinced was the real Kekua, Tuioti-Mariner said.

"I just knew that my cousin would invite her to certain events and Lennay would always say she would go to those things, but she would never end up going and instead of her going we would see Ronaiah," Tuioti-Mariner said.

Then this fall, Vaosa and Tuioti-Mariner saw the story of Te'o's dying girlfriend.

"When I found out about the Samoan football player (and) his girlfriend, his Grandma died the same day, I was like, 'Whoa this is crazy,' I feel so bad for him, so I just looked him up," Vaosa said. "I found out his girlfriend's name was Lennay Kekua. And right when I read the name Lennay Kekua, I immediately thought of Ronaiah. Then I thought of my cousin -- that this has to be the same person."

On Friday, Te’o submitted to a two and a half hour off-camera interview in the presence of his lawyer that, absent thorough questions or detailed observations regarding his credibility from ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap, operates as a press release masquerading as an actual interrogation.

Te'o: “I wasn’t faking it. I wasn’t part of this. No. Never. When [people] hear the facts, they’ll know. They’ll know that there is no way that I could be part of this.”

i guess it's good that he's come out and said his side of the story, denying involvement. but what with Lance Armstrong lying for years, it's hard to just accept an athlete's word any more as truth._________________